Sections

Hockey

Beavers defeat Wildcats

Photo by KEVIN McSHEFFREY/THE STANDARDThe Beavers Nathan Balkwill fires a shot at Elliot Lake Wildcats netminder Dominic Boily’s glove during Thursday’s game at the Blind River Community Centre.

Kevin McSheffrey

Published: March 1, 2019 - 4:25 PM

On Thursday evening, the Elliot Lake Wildcats played their second last home game of the regular season in the Blind River Community Centre and dropped the game to the Blind River Beavers, by a score of 4-1. After a scoreless first period, the Beavers Riley Nadeau opened the scoring 4:41 into the second frame, with the assists going to Andrew Warhoftig and Brendan Young. The Wildcats only marker of the game came on a power play at the 7:21 mark of the stanza, when Connor Taylor got the puck by Beavers’ netminder Jackson Hjelle to tie the score. The assists went to Mark Perone and Noah Minns. But 36 second later, Nadeau got the puck by Wildcats goalie Dominic Boily for a second time. The assists again went to Warhoftig and Young. The score remained 2-1 for the Beavers more than half way through the final frame, when Nadeau got his hat trick on an unassisted goal with 7:32 remaining in regulation time. The last goal of the game came 41 seconds before the final buzzer when Warhoftig put the puck into the Wildcats empty net. The assists went to Nadeau and Ryan Mulligan. The three stars went to the Beavers: Nadeau, Warhoftig and Young. The game drew 220 fans.

The green and gold The Wildcats donned the former Elliot Lake Vikings green and gold coloured jerseys in tribute to the community’s first Junior ‘A’ team. A release by the Wildcats club read, “Elliot Lake has been host to junior hockey since the mid 1960s. Before the arrival of the Wildcats, the Elliot Lake Vikings were a fixture in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey from 1965 to 1999. “The players have sported a variety of colours through the years, but tonight we honour a version of the traditional green and gold as the Wildcats are wearing retro jerseys to pay tribute to the NOJHL championship team of 1982-1983. “The Vikings were the first ever Northern Ontario team to win games against the champions from southern Ontario as they pushed the eventual national champion North York Rangers to the limit in the best of seven series.”

‘Cats calling Blind River Community Centre Home for rest of regular season While the game was an Elliot Lake Wildcats home game, it had to be played at the Blind River Community Centre after a partial roof collapse at the Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre in Elliot Lake on Feb. 22. Because of the collapse, the city closed most of its other large buildings as a precaution due to the snow loads. The Centennial Arena was closed until the snow can be removed from the roof. The Wildcats play the Blind River Beavers again on Saturday, but this time its the Beavers home game at the community centre. The puck drops at 7 p.m. But on Sunday, the Blind River Community Centre will once again be home for the Wildcats final game of the regular season when they take on the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Eagles at 7 p.m. At the 2 p.m., that Beavers will take on the Espanola Express in a matinee game at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex. The Beavers last game of the regular season is at home on Wednesday when they play the division leader, the Soo Thunderbirds at 7 p.m. Round one of the playoff will be a best of three series against the four and fifth place teams in the west and east divisions. It will begin on March 8. While the Wildcats are in fifth place, their opponent has yet to be decided. It would be either the Beaver or the Eagles. The two teams are two points apart, and the Eagles have four games to play while the Beavers have three games left to complete the regular season.

Photo by KEVIN McSHEFFREY/THE STANDARDThe Beavers Nathan Balkwill fires a shot at Elliot Lake Wildcats netminder Dominic Boily’s glove during Thursday’s game at the Blind River Community Centre.